How to Create a Pivot Table Based on Multiple Tables in Excel 2013

Up until recently, if you had data spread across several tables in Microsoft Excel that you wanted to consolidate in a single pivot table, you would have faced a headache-inducing process of manual formatting and data preparation. The most recent version of the software, Excel 2013, fixes this problem by allowing you to create a pivot table from multiple tables automatically — no manual formatting required. Just follow these steps to get started.

1. Click “Insert” at the top of the screen.

2. Click the “PivotTable” button on the Ribbon.

3. Select the first table you want to add to the pivot table.

4. Check the box labeled “Add this data to the Data Model” and press OK.

5. Click “All” in the PivotTable Fields window to view all of the tables. Excel automatically detects multiple tables, so you won’t need to repeat these steps for each additional table.

6. Check the boxes of the cells you wish to include in the pivot table.